before & after: chocolate shop makeover

If you’re suffering from the winter blues, then this Before & After should immediately cheer you up with its fresh, springy palette. Ashley Hubbard and Robert Ludlow are the couple behind Fleurir Chocolates. Last April, they decided to plant some roots and open a retail shop, and they set their sights on this charming little space that used to house a modern jewelry boutique. I think they’ve struck the perfect chord, with a few dramatic elements — the wood wall, gorgeous wallpaper and lighting fixtures — punctuating a clean, neutral, pared-down space. Beautiful work, Ashley and Robert! — Kate

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Time: 6 weeks (including wait time for permitting); actual work time about 4 weeks

Basic Steps: Robert and I scoured the Internet to collect hundreds of inspiration photos — including Design*Sponge, Pinterest, Blissful Blog, and so, so many more — to get a general sense of what direction we wanted to take. From there, we enlisted our friend Leah Moss who has a small design business to help us pull everything together and translate those photos and our countless other ideas into an actual shop (mind you, she was almost nine months pregnant at this time). From there, Leah made a couple sketches to serve as a launching point for finding the appropriate furniture, fixtures and colors. Because we were on a tight budget, we relied heavily on repurposed, recycled and salvaged materials, which we mainly found at Community Forklift and several of the old barn antique shops in Maryland and Virginia. Luckily, we were going for a rather rustic feel, which made recycled and refinished items a reasonable option.

My number one piece of advice is to be patient — everything will take roughly three times longer than you anticipate. You will spend a lot of time looking through junk in order to find the exact right piece, and then you will spend even more time working on that piece to transform it into something you can actually use. Also, recruit your friends/family. We were very fortunate in that so, so many people volunteered to help us with labor/crafting/shopping, which is not only helpful but also makes the project more fun overall. — Ashley

The paint color is Grey Horse by Benjamin Moore. We attached the branches by screwing small eye hooks into the wall and wrapping metal wire through the hooks and around the branch. We then painted the wire and hooks to match the wall and branches.

Thank you! And thanks to Ashley and Robert for the shout out. This was such a unique and rewarding experience. I’m still a little bit in mourning over the fact that it’s done, and that I’m no longer staple-gunning moss to boards and sanding paint off reclaimed wood on a regular basis. However, sweeter than the shop itself are the actual chocolates–consolation!

Having done this myself, I really admired the result and all the effort put into the project. It looks great and I particularly love the desk! and I really agree on your advise to be patient. Congratulations and best of luck on your new store.

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